[bossanova808]

Seems weird it has vents and no aluminium fins etc, not your typical fanless design...

If it indeed runs useably cool, is fanless, and the integrated remote receiver is decent a la the NUC, then yeah this looks like a real little winner.

[fritsch]

BDW won't support HEVC on linux - but now here comes the great surprise: Braswell already does(!)

http://cgit.freedesktop.org/vaapi/intel-...fbb510b1f9 <- check that commit

So it seems the BSW is more a SLK than a BDW :-)

Edit: Btw. that's kind of confusing. In Mesa and VAAPI what we assume BSW is called CHV, cause these people say: BSW is the "complete" platform, while CHV is only the GPU part :-) Never the less. We should see hevc decoding with BSW/CHV which makes it superior to BDW. Nicely done.

[o_dog]

There seems to be two intel nuc's coming in june, one celeron and one pentium. The celeron (N3050) sports 12EU and the Pentium (N3700) has 16EU. Here was a real kicker for me, both of them supports AES-NI. What is a little disturbing is that the N3700 is launced as Atom if i'm reading it correctly, and it's delivered with a better GPU and higher clock than the celeron. Should be fun to play with.

[mirek]

I have found prices on one Czech eshop, not on sale yet, not sure if prices are final.

Barebone version: 5000 CZK (~180 EUR, 130 GBP, 200 USD)
Celeron N3000 1.04GHz (4W), Turboboost 2.08GHz, Intel HD Graphics, no RAM, no HDD, WiFi, Bluetooth, infraport, 3x USB 3.0, USB 3.1 (USB-C), GLAN, 2x HDMI, DisplayPort, VESA, no OS

Version with 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD: 6500 CZK (~240 EUR, 170 GBP, 260 USD)
Celeron N3000 1.04GHz (4W), Turboboost 2.08GHz, Intel HD Graphics, RAM 4GB, SSD 128GB mSATA, WiFi, Bluetooth, infraport, 3x USB 3.0, USB 3.1 (USB-C), GLAN, 2x HDMI, DisplayPort, VESA, no OS

There should be third version with 32GB SSD, 2GB RAM and Windows 8.1 with Bing. Not listed in the store...

It should be able to play 4K video according to one of images in this article:
http://www.cnews.cz/asrock-chysta-vlastn...rannym-usb

Image (text in bottom left corner):
http://www.cnews.cz/sites/default/files/...box_04.jpg

EDIT:
Prices are including VAT 21% and assuming they are correct and that Czech prices are usually a bit higher, final price in EUR, GBP or USD can be a little less.

[Matt Devo]

no mention of the HDMI version, so will have to assume 1.4, which means DisplayPort only for 4K at 60Hz. Once DP->HDMI 2.0 adapters are out that won't be a huge problem, but still annoying.

I think $200 for a barebones setup is a bit high, will have to see what the actual MSRP is. Also figure there will be a Braswell ChromeBox at some point, likely sub $200 with RAM and a small SSD/eMMC.

[omnium]

Aside from functioning as a living room PC, it can also act as another access point with its 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ Wi-Fi connection. Bluetooth 4.0 also allows connection of wireless devices such as a mouse and keyboard. All models also come with a handy remote in case you don't want to use other peripherals.

ASrock said that its full-system-without-OS Beebox is the only NUC vendor that can claim that it does true 4K video because of its dual-channel memory design. This Beebox has 2 x 2 GB RAM as opposed to a single DIMM, and the company ran a demo that showed that its 4K solution outperformed NUCs using a single-DIMM design.

ASRock said that the first of these NUCs (the one sans OS) should enter the market in the middle of June. The barebones Beebox will cost just $140 (and users will need to purchase RAM and storage separately), while the no-OS black or white Beeboxes will be $220. (The gold model will be an extra $10, at $230.)

[oWarchild]

However, CPU-wize it seems only comparable to Raspberry 2 (which is minimal for Kodi). Too bad because features (2x HDMi, Displayport, USB3.0 type C) look great. Maybe when a model with a N3150 (1.6 Ghz base frequency) comes, I might consider those devices. But still, it shouldn't be more expensive than a Chromebox. Intel priced those SoC's similar to 2955U (Chromeboxes) so prices should be similar to Chromeboxes.

Checkout Gigabyte Brix GB-BACE-3150.

Specs:


Intel Ark - N3150 vs. N3000

[fritsch]

However, CPU-wize it seems only comparable to Raspberry 2 (which is minimal for Kodi)

What? ... you saw all the extensions the CPU has? it's much more capable than a Pi.

[oWarchild]

Afterwards @Robotica said:

ok maybe I exaggerated but in my opinion, CPU-wize those lower-end Braswells are still bare minumum for Kodi.

Maybe I should have removed that little bit out of the quote

[fritsch]

Not really. I just tested my J1800 once more today, after we bumped some serious libs / drivers in OpenELEC. That thingy just performs. The only thing it cannot do is upscaling, cause of its limited 4EUs. Now compare the CPU of the braswells with that of a J1800. We now get 16 EUs and all should be fine.

Even the byt can do 3840x2106@30fps (decoding). <- H264 that is.

So I am looking forward, especially with the HEVC decoding in place. CPU is then only needed for hi10p files (after we got the hevc stuff implemented of course).

[oWarchild]

I run Kodi on a RPi 1b and I'm not disappointed!

But looking forward to upgrade soon, most likely to a Braswell box. I'm hoping these boxes can handle hi10p 1080p, if not it's not going to be a huge problem (tight budget beats hi10p needs) but still hopeful...

[fritsch]

I am not so confident about the dual core version, but it needs testing. The very moment the gpu comes into play, everything is fine.

[omnium]

[Nekromantik]

With these being lower end CPUs, it could mean the HEVC decoding is limited to 30fps at 4k.

[oWarchild]

Once again, an ultra low-power chip will most likely be able to throttle, or at least reach temperatures we're not confortable with.

This can be a problem, specially in warmer countries...